Scripting and automation have been in the conversation lately, owing to Apple’s reported disbanding of the macOS team responsible for them and the departure of scripting advocate Sal Soghoian from the company last month.

They sounds like arcane, abstract concepts. And to be sure, scripting and automation are the sort of feature that’s used by more like 5% of users rather than 50%. But in pondering Apple’s possible shift in automation strategy, I began to consider all the ways I use it in my working life.

I’m always interested to discover new productivity hacks, so I enjoyed reading this. Also, I wasn’t aware of Automator, or how useful it can be, until I started using OS X. I have to wonder why the folks at Apple don’t make more of a song and dance about it? I can’t say for sure, but I think I’d have probably switched to OS X sooner, if I’d known more about Automator.